Generals out-rank MCA

Generals out-rank MCA

By JESSICA DAVIS
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

BLUEFIELD — Montcalm out-scored and out-rebounded Mercer Christian Academy to take home a 57-31 victory Wednesday night in the second round of the third annual Bluefield Kiwanis Classic at Bluefield State’s Ned Shott Gymnasium.

“It’s still early in the season,” Montcalm head coach Jimmy McPherson said. “The girls played well, but we still need to work on execution if we want to make another run in the tournament at the end of the year.”

Hannah Lawrence started off scoring for the Cavaliers, but Montcalm used a 14-0 run to build an early lead. With less than one minute to play in the first quarter Mercer Christian scored back-to-back baskets to end the Generals run.

The Lady Generals went on to outscore the Cavaliers 11-9 in the second quarter to take a convincing 25-15 lead entering the half.

“During the first half we played a little sluggish,” Montcalm assistant coach Tonya Hart said. “The points on the board don’t really matter. We needed to execute better on offense and defense in order to keep things going in the second half.”

After the break the Generals proved to be too much for the Cavaliers defense to handle, as Montcalm added 32 more points. The Generals defense held Mercer Christian to 16 points during the same timeframe.

“MCA has always been a big rival,” Montcalm junior Eva Grose said. “It feels good to beat them. Games like this help us prepare and get better so we can go further at the end of the season.”

Lawrence paced the Cavaliers with 11 points, while Schulte contributed nine.

“I feel that we have a lot of talent,” Mercer Christian Academy assistant coach Jamie Jones said. “So far we haven’t been able to come together as a group. We still need to work on team chemistry.”

Eva Grose scored 23 points and Sheena Johnson added 19, as the two combined for 42 of the Generals 57 points.

“Eva and I work well together,” Johnson said. “We read each other and push each other. If one of us slacks the other picks it up. We have to show team leadership because we are the oldest and have played the longest.”

“The rest of the team follows us,” added Grose. “When we step up it makes the rest of the girls play good team ball.”



Montcalm (4-2)

Bogart 2 0-0 4, Pennington 1 0-0 2, Tiller 1 0-0 2, Sizemore 0 0-0 0, Coeburn 0 0-0 0, Faw 2 1-2 5, Eva Grose 10 3-7 23, Sheena Johnson 6 3-5 19.

MCA (1-3)

Roark 1 0-0 2, Shrewsberry 2 0-0 4, Nester 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 4-6 4, Bailey 0 1-4 1, Hannah Lawrence 4 3-5 11, Schulte 3 1-5 9.

Montcalm...................14 11 15 17 — 57

MCA...............................6 9 7 9 — 31

3-point shots: Montcalm (Johnson 4), MCA (Schulte 2).



— Contact Jessica Davis
jdavis@bdtonline.com

Monday’s Game

Montcalm (3-2)

Johnson 6-10 5-6 20, Eva Grose 3-9 4-4 10, Bogat 3-12 2-4 9, Faw 3-4 1-2 7, Coeburn 0-0 0-0 0, Pennington 0-2 0-0 0, Sizemore 0-0 0-0 0, Tiller 0-3 0-1 0; Totals 15-40 12-17 46.

Graham (1-3)

Amber Carbaugh 7-15 0-1 14, Kathleen Bourne 4-12 2-2 11, Whitney Bennett 3-16 2-2 10, Sawyers 2-11 0-0 4, Jones 1-4 0-0 2, Mercke 0-2 0-0 0, Reed 0-1 0-0 0, Wolkoff 0-2 0-0 0; Totals 17-63 4-5 41.

Montcalm.........................15 8 13 10 — 46

Graham.............................13 4 18 .6 — 41

3-Point goals—Montcalm 4-14 (Johnson 3-5, Bogat 1-5, Grose 0-1, Pennington 0-1, Tiller 0-2) Graham 3-19 (Bennett 2-12, Bourne 1-4, Jones 0-1, Mercke 0-2). Turnovers—Montcalm 17, Graham 14.